5.6 Edison Class Cruiser (DY-1000)

A profile of the ill-fated DY-1000 Edison, the inadequately shielded cruiser whose meteoroid-wrecked test run bankrupted Dyson-Yoyodyne, paired with the later Asgard class (DY-900) that broke from the company’s traditional “submarine” hull style.

DY-1000 Edison (rebuilt configuration); design by Rick Sternbach, “original configuration” by Lawrence Miller

DY-900 design by The Journal for Applied Treknology

The DY-1000 Edison will forever be known as “the ship that broke Dyson-Yoyodyne.” It represented their last, best hope to regain the monopoly they once held on the Terran spacecraft industry. Given the excellence of the competition it is surprising that it would have produced such a subpar design, but that it did. Its fatal flaw was its lack of sufficient meteoroid shielding. The Edison was severely damaged by multiple meteoroid strikes while on a test run through the Kuiper Belt and wound up with just over a third of its compartments hulled. Fortunately none of its crew were lost; however, its engine room was among the compartments wrecked by the meteoroids. The disabled ship had to be towed back for major repairs. Dyson-Yoyodyne’s stock rating fell with each day that it took for the Edison to return to the Pluto Test Range. By the time it was berthed and undergoing repairs the company was filing for bankruptcy.

The orphaned Edison eventually found a home with UESPA as a science probe training ship. It was also frequently loaned to higher educational institutions for space science excursions across the Sol System. It enjoyed a longer life than it deserved in this new role, finally being retired in 2139. Ironically, it sits in orbit beside the Tritium (another notable failure) at the Terran branch of the Federation Air and Space Museum.

Service entry date (old calendar): 2084.

Specifications

Length: 245 m
Mass: 34,000 DWT
Crew: 58
Range: interplanetary
Cruising speed: Warp 1.5
Armament: none

Asgard Class Transport (DY-900)

The Asgard class was Dyson-Yoyodyne’s first new design since it emerged from receivership in 2092. It was a first for the firm in that it abandoned the company’s traditional “submarine” style hull in favor of a more contemporary design. It did tolerably well, given the fact that it was competing in an already crowded market, but the minimal profits that sales brought in were a far cry from what Dyson-Yoyodyne had earned in their heyday. This would eventually wind up becoming one of the last original DY-series designs ever built.

The engine cooling vanes were deleted from later ships in the series as being superfluous. The last DY-900, the Ghanima, was completed in 2125.

Service entry date (old calendar): 2100.

Innovations

First DY-series spacecraft to depart from the company’s traditional “submarine” style hull
First DY-series design with “true” warp drive